Friends? Since when?
by xHinaLovex
Summary: It's not like they had kept their friendship a secret, but when its discovery leads to a misunderstanding, chaos ensues in Konoha. Friendship - mainly SasuHina (they will only be friends), accompanied by the rest of the Konoha 12 / Romance - NaruHina and probably some SasuSaku. Rated T for some mild language and possible suggestive material
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! This is just a little something that popped into my head. The next chapter of my Hinata:Sweetheart story is getting a little dark, so I wanted to clear my head with something light and humorous.**

**The chapters are probably going to stay pretty short (around 1000 words), so even though it won't be my focus, I'll probably be able to write on it here and there.**

**It's really just something fun for me to relax with, and I decided to post so you could relax with it as well. Enjoy!**

****Edit****

**I would like to let everyone know that this story takes place after 699, but in a universe where the last movie didn't happen. So, it's a kind of not too serious alternative to Naruto and Hinata getting together based around a massive misunderstanding.**

**Now, due to a lot of hateful words and flames (which have been deleted), I would like to clarify that this misunderstanding that there may be something more than friendship between Sasuke and Hinata is a misunderstanding for the characters_ in the story_. I hope I was pretty clear in the summary and character groupings that there is nothing romantic in the slightest between them. If you consider Hinata talking to a male other than Naruto to be cheating, then that is an issue on your part and not the story's.**

**Finally, if you hate Sasuke, you might not want to read this. I find the way his brain works to be funny so the first couple of chapters are from his point of view. After that it branches out to points of view of other characters, but his friendship (again, I say _friendship_) with Hinata is still a large part of the story. If you hate the idea of a friendship between the two of them, you probably won't enjoy this.**

****End Edit****

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**Chapter One**

Sasuke stood there in his living room, lips pursed and brows furrowed in annoyance, and considered how he had gotten to this point. He supposed their friendship had started out simple enough, even if it was a bit morbid.

They would often run into each other by the memorial stone. She was mourning Neji, her older cousin and someone who was basically her brother and protector.

He was mourning his own brother, whom he had killed with his own hands. Both of the deceased had essentially sacrificed themselves for their siblings as well as for a better future.

One day, Hinata had offered him a couple of extra flowers so that he could place some by Itachi's name. A kind of silent understanding had passed between them and soon they began acknowledging one another outside of the cemetery as well.

Eventually, that wordless acknowledgment turned into short polite talks, which then turned into the occasional sparring session and conversation.

She was quiet, like him, and she was private as well. He appreciated that she didn't pry or bombard him with chatter. As much as he loved his teammates, he liked that there was someone he could spend time around who didn't feel the need to talk his ear off.

Their friendship was gradual, and not something he had ever expected, but it was there and he was less indifferent to it than most things in his life. Now, however, it was causing a problem.

There, in his spot on his couch in his spartan apartment slept Hyuga Hinata. She was sprawled out in a rather unladylike fashion, still wearing the tight, blue dress from the night before.

It was very flattering, but also very unlike the shy Hyuga to wear something like that. Ino must have gotten her hands on her - Ino or her sister, he figured. Both were always trying to dress her up in some way another, not like he cared. Hinata would just complain about it at times and, since she almost never complained, he remembered those occasions.

The Uchiha stopped that train of thought and looked at the clock on his wall. There were only ten more minutes until his show came on. It was the only show he watched regularly and it was a cooking show. Laugh all you want, but the chef in charge of the show thought tomatoes were some kind of superfood so almost all of his dishes incorporated the red vegetable in some way or other.

Sasuke vaguely wondered what his father would have said about using the prized Sharingan to copy cooking techniques and recipes. He quickly shrugged it off, however. He was the last Uchiha so he was really the only one with any authority on the matter. And in his mind, there was never too much of your favorite food.

Now, to the problem at hand.

Sure, he could sit on the floor in front of his couch and watch the show, but that wasn't the point. Ever since Hinata had told him about this show, he had watched it every week from the same spot. This was his home and he wanted to watch his show from his spot.

He grunted. If this was Naruto he could just shove him onto the floor or smack him awake. Normally he didn't much care for niceties and he appreciated that Hinata understood that. However, he found that it was difficult to be too mean to the Hyuga girl. Being mean to her was kind of like kicking a puppy. And despite all the bad things he had done in his life, including training under a sadistic missing nin and countless killings, Sasuke did not kick puppies. He wasn't heartless.

Onyx eyes scanned the sleeping young woman and came to rest on her face. Her expression was peaceful, but the makeup that either Ino or Hanabi had placed on her the night before was a complete mess. Apparently, even their skills couldn't stand the test of drunken crying.

Sasuke smirked. He knew exactly what to do.

Just one minute later, the Uchiha lightly shook the sleeping Hyuga, who groaned and winced as she tried to open her eyes. One second of sunlight was all that was needed to convince her to shut her eyes tight once again.

"Hyuga," Sasuke said loudly, hoping the sound of his voice would startle her more awake.

Sure enough, Hinata shot up at hearing her friend's voice and looked around frantically to try to figure out where she was. She regretted those actions quickly, however, and grabbed her head in pain.

"Owww," she moaned.

"I thought you once told me you didn't drink," he said with a raised brow.

"I, um, I don't really. I mean sometimes I'll have a glass of wine when I'm out with the girls or we have a get together, but that's it."

"It looks to me like you had a lot more than one glass of wine last night."

Hinata had shown up at his doorstep, so drunk that he had actually marvelled at the idea that she had managed to get there by herself. He had let her in and tried to ask her what was wrong, but all he could get out of her was some drunken mumbling and Naruto's name.

After that, he pretty much just let her cry it out. He wasn't some fucking love guru and he couldn't get any coherent details out of her so he figured he'd just let her sleep it off and try to talk to her in the morning.

Even with a horrible headache, Hinata had the decency to blush at the state she must have been in the night before.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's fine. You're lucky I don't hate you," he said. It was the closest he'd get to saying out loud that he actually enjoyed her friendship and it was enough to earn him a small smile from Hinata.

"I thought you might want to, uh, freshen up or whatever. You're free to use the shower and I left a change of clothes on the counter for you next to a clean towel. I figured you probably didn't want to walk home in that," he motioned to her outfit and Hinata looked down at the low cut dress that pushed up her ample bosom far more than was necessary and squeaked in embarrassment.

She was sure she didn't want to know how the rest of her looked right now.

Hinata thanked Sasuke, telling him that he was a thoughtful friend and that she appreciated his hospitality. She offered to cook him something for lunch to make up for the trouble she had caused and he agreed before shooing her off to the shower.

As soon as she was out of the room he sat down and smirked. Now he would get to watch his show from his spot and get a meal out of everything. People didn't call him a genius for nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone. Please be sure to read the edited author's note from the first chapter if you are returning to this story. If this is your first time through, I assume you already read it :-)**

**After a lot of hateful feedback I felt the need to clarify a few things. I received quite a few reviews that I really appreciated and they are the only reason I didn't just delete this story altogether. Again, this is something I'm just writing for fun so I'm not going through and editing like I usually do and constructive criticism/pointing out any grammatical or spelling errors/any inconsistencies/etc. are more than welcome.**

**Thank you again to those of you who took the time to say something nice. I've got this chapter done and another almost complete just because of you guys. This chapter is more of Sasuke's point of view, but after this it switches up.**

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**Chapter Two**

Sasuke's show was almost over and Hinata had still not come out of the bathroom. He had considered going to check on her during a commercial break to make sure she hadn't passed out or anything because she was naked in his apartment (she was weird like that), but he figured if she managed to die from embarrassment in his shower then she didn't really deserve to be called a kunoichi.

Then again, if she did die in his shower he would have to face the wrath of the Hyuga clan and the horrific questioning that would follow from his teammates and perverted sensei as to why she was in his shower in the first place.

It was a conundrum.

He was saved having to ponder further when there was a knock on his front door.

Sasuke opened the door, scowling at the visitor who had interrupted the last fifteen minutes of his show. By now, they were pretty much just talking about garnish and taste, but still. He didn't like to leave things unfinished.

"Go away. I'm busy," he told the blond at the door.

Naruto just rolled his eyes.

"No need to be so grumpy, Teme. It's almost lunch time! I was wondering if you wanted to grab some ramen and have a spar. Baa-chan got drunk last night and partially destroyed one of the training grounds so Kakashi gave me free reign to get crazy before they have someone come fix it."

"I told you, I'm busy," Sasuke said and made to close the door.

The Uzumaki narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Sasuke never turned down an all out spar.

Before the Uchiha could fully close the door, Naruto barged past him into the living room.

The onyx haired male closed his eyes and sighed in annoyance. This was going to be an issue. He wasn't sure what had happened the night before, but he was pretty sure Hinata wasn't going to react well to seeing Naruto there. This is what he gets for having friends.

He flashed through a few hand signs and placed a strong, but subtle genjutsu on his apartment that would hopefully keep Hinata from recognizing her crush if she came in. It worked in such a way that it should keep her brain from registering visual recognition. If she saw Naruto, she would know who he was, but it wouldn't register that he was there.

Sasuke only hoped it would work. Hinata wasn't as resistant to genjutsu as Sakura, but she had trained under Kurenai and had a keen sense for them. He was kind of banking on the fact that her hangover would still be bad enough for her not to notice it.

Naruto looked at him questioningly, having watched him run through the signs to place the genjutsu, but the Uchiha didn't seem to want to explain himself.

"So… you want to tell me why you're placing a genjutsu on your own apartment?"

"Not really," Sasuke replied.

The blond narrowed his eyes again.

"Is there something here you don't want me to see?"

The Uchiha rolled his eyes and turned to walk back to his couch. Unfortunately, Naruto took that as a confirmation and started to get excited.

"Oh! It's close to my birthday! I bet it's my present!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. He hadn't even realized it was getting close to that time. Before he could tell Naruto he was wrong, however, he heard his bathroom door open and soft footsteps coming down the hallway.

The Uzumaki turned to look at him questioningly, then towards the hallway where they could hear the person getting closer.

When Hinata appeared, hair damp and wavy, and obviously not wearing a bra under what was definitely one of Sasuke's shirts, Naruto's mouth practically fell on the floor.

Sasuke tensed, waiting to see if his genjutsu would work or if he was going to have to kick a gaping Naruto out of his house.

The Hyuga yawned a small, cute yawn and stretched a bit before saying, "Sasuke, I was thinking I could make you some pasta pomodoro for lunch. I didn't realize how late it was when you woke me up so I figured I could just start it now if you like."

Hinata tilted her head to the side, waiting for him to respond, and smiled brightly when he gave her a nod.

"Great! I was going to make a dressing for some salad to go with it. Do you still have that basket of fruit I brought the other day? I think it had a lemon or two in it that I could use."

"Above the fridge," he said, and she continued on her way.

Sasuke turned back to look at Naruto, who still had his eyes and mouth open wide.

"You know you could catch flies like that," he said.

Then he wondered if Naruto had eaten flies before. He was contracted to the toads, after all.

"Oi," he said, getting annoyed that the blond was still unresponsive.

Finally, the Uzumaki snapped out of it and turned to face Sasuke with an unrecognizable expression on his face.

"You - you and…"

He was having a hard time finishing his statement.

"Whatever it is you are about to ask, it's probably none of your business. Leave."

Before Naruto could protest, Hinata stuck her head out of the kitchen and said, "Sasuke, be nice. If you're mean to your guest I'll bake something and your apartment will smell like sugar for the next two days."

The Uchiha furrowed his brows in annoyance and Naruto was torn between laughing at the idea of Hinata threatening the avenger and utter bewilderment regarding what kind of relationship was happening between the two of them.

"Look, if I promise to meet you in two hours for a spar will you agree to leave?"

Naruto was rarely speechless, but now seemed to be one of those occasions. He finally nodded his head in assent, and let Sasuke practically push him out the door.

He didn't even flinch when it was slammed behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Got another one for you! I decided to celebrate my new chapter of my Hinata: Sweetheart story with a chapter of this :-) **

**It's just a bit longer than the previous two because I decided to add in a flashback with Naruto's view of what happened the night before. You'll get Hinata's in the next chapter.**

**This chapter has some serious feelings in it, but I like to think I kept some humor. Personally, I find snarky Kurama hilarious so I hope you do to.**

**I'll stop babbling now and let you read!**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

Naruto was walking through Konoha in a daze. He was having a hard time processing what he had just seen - a freshly showered Hinata walking in, talking about making lunch for Sasuke as if she was comfortable there.

Was she? He certainly hadn't noticed any kind of relationship between the two of them. But she was wearing some of the Teme's clothes.

Even though the shirt was black and had been rather large on her petite frame, it had done nothing to hide her ample bosom. It had also done nothing to hide the fact that there was nothing between said bosom and the shirt. Had it really been so chilly in Sasuke's apartment? Must have been...

Naruto was jerked back to reality when he nearly ran into a pole. He could hear Kurama snicker in his mindscape and frowned.

They obviously had some kind of relationship. The fact that she had spent the night and used his shower, as well as planned lunch for them made it seem more than friendly. Hell, it seemed downright dirty.

But Hinata wasn't like that! She was sweet and innocent! She wouldn't do something like that. And she _definitely_ wouldn't do it with Sasuke. No way.

_"And how would you know?" _Kurama asked.

"Because I know she's not like that!" he yelled back.

_"How do you suppose that? When was the last time you talked to her? And I mean actually talked to her, not just talked to everybody while she happened to be there."_

Naruto thought about it. And he quickly came to the conclusion that Kurama was right.

"But, I thought, you know, she liked _me_ like that, not Teme."

_"Sure, she did, but what have you done to address that? You can only ignore a girl for so long before she takes the hint."_

"What hint? There were no hints!"

_"Exactly."_

"Gah, what is that supposed to mean? And I haven't ignored her! I invited her to eat ramen the other day!"

_"Oh sure, you invited her to eat while you had fangirls draped all over you. I'm sure that seemed super fun for her."_

Naruto stopped. He hated to admit it, but he had a point.

"Still, I have a hard time thinking she would start something like that with Sasuke. I mean, gross."

_"Maybe she didn't start it. Maybe he actually noticed what a catch she is and did something about it. As much as I dislike Uchihas as a general rule, you can't say they don't know how to take advantage of a situation."_

That could be the case, but still, he had a hard time believing it. And anyway, wasn't there something happening between Sasuke and Sakura? He wasn't exactly allowed to ask about their private life (it ended violently from both parties), but he could have sworn there was something there.

Then again, Hinata had mentioned that Sasuke had woken her up. That meant she spent the night. And that could mean so many things that he didn't want.

"_You know, this wouldn't be a problem if you had just talked to her already."_

"Why are you so concerned with my love life all of a sudden?" Naruto replied grumpily.

"_I'm stuck inside you. That means I experience what you experience and - I can't emphasize this enough - I hate those stupid fangirls. You had a nice girl who loved you back when everyone else thought you were hopeless and now you're surrounded by shrieking harpies all the time. I have my preferences and, in this case, I know they coincide with your own."_

Naruto sighed. What was he supposed to say to her? It isn't like he'd not talked to her about it because he didn't care. She had been important to him ever since the Chunin exams and the incident with Pain had really affected him. But how was he supposed to address it?

"What the hell am I supposed to say? Oh, hey Hinata. You remember those times you almost died and told me you loved me?

'Yes, Naruto-kun?' (He answered himself in a high pitched voice.)

"Yeah, well I didn't really think you meant what you said so I never said anything.

'But, Naruto-kun, I said I loved you. How much more straightforward am I supposed to be? Are you saying you thought I was lying? You think I'm a liar?'

"No! I just.. nevermind. I meant to say that I never said anything because I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say..

'You mean you did know what I meant and just ignored it?'"

Naruto sighed, imagining sweet Hinata crying because he couldn't say the right thing.

"You see? I can't imagine anything going well."

Kurama was silent.

"What, no advice? No comments?"

_"... That was the worst impression I've ever heard."_

Naruto practically fell over.

"Oi! I just acted out my nightmare and that's all you have to say? No advice at all?"

_"Yes. Don't try to win her over with your impressions. I don't think even she could be nice about them."_

"You're fucking useless," Naruto growled out.

_"Sure, now you say that. But whenever some new goddess bent on destruction comes along you'll be asking for my help again."_

"You're an ass, you know."

"_Fine," Kurama said with a sigh, "You don't necessarily have to say anything profound or make some grand speech. You could just ask her out on a date. It's as simple as that."_

The Uzumaki considered that. It was better than anything he had come up with so far, which had been nothing.

As someone who had grown up without a family, without any friends because the adults wouldn't let their kids play with him, he had no experience with love. Hell, he hadn't even realized what her confession meant until last night when Kiba talked to him.

_Flashback_

_They had all been out in a group since it was one of those rare occasions when everyone was actually in town instead of out on missions._

_Naruto was having a hard time keeping his fangirls at bay. All he wanted to do was spend some quality time out with his friends and he had girls trying to drag him in all directions. _

_Finally, he thought he came up with a solution: Get Sakura to dance with him for a song or two. Her strength and temper were practically as legendary as Tsunade's now and he figured she would be great for scaring the fangirls away._

_Unfortunately, she wouldn't agree. Sakura suggested Hinata instead, but the bluenette was way too nice. Sure, she was crazy strong, but she was so sweet and soft spoken that he knew it wouldn't be enough to scare his fangirls. He needed someone scary!_

_Later, Kiba had taken him aside to talk._

"_Hey, do you mind if I ask how you feel about Hinata?"_

_Naruto was startled by the seemingly random question._

"_Huh? What do you mean?"_

"_I mean, do you love her or not?"_

"_Of course, I love all my friends!" he replied._

_Kiba had realized Naruto wasn't quite understanding, so he tried a different approach._

"_Fine, do you feel about Hinata like you used to feel about Sakura?"_

"_What? No, that would be weird. They are completely different."_

_The Inuzuka sighed, not realizing that this time he had been the one to misunderstand._

"_Well in that case you should tell her."_

"_Tell her what?"_

"_You need to tell Hinata that you don't love her." _

"_But I already told you I do!"_

"_Yeah, but not in the way she loves you."_

"_Huh, how is it different?"_

"_Look, I'm not going to betray her confidence more than I already have so I'm just going to say this: If you don't feel any differently about Hinata than you do everyone else, then you need to let her know."_

_Before Naruto could ask anything else, Kiba had gone back inside._

_End Flashback_

He had stayed up the rest of the night after that, thinking about what Kiba had said. It took a lot of time, and some explaining from Kurama, but when Naruto finally realized what he had meant, so many things fell into place. The quiet encouragement, the medicinal cream, her blushing and stuttering, her self-sacrifice... everything.

Or, so he thought. After seeing what he had seen that morning, maybe he had misunderstood? Or maybe Kiba misunderstood Hinata's true feelings?

It was all so confusing! He was a straightforward kind of guy and thought there should be a way to just clear everything up. Unfortunately, he knew he wouldn't get a straight answer out of Sasuke.

Luckily, when he looked up he saw Hinata making her way towards the Hyuga compound.

He quickly headed toward her, eager to get to the bottom of this.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank y'all for all the reviews and favorites/follows! I've been really surprised at the reception this story has gotten and it makes me happy that you are liking it so far!**

**Not really any humor in this chapter, but it's about Hinata's rough night so I figure that's to be expected. Hope you enjoy it anyway!**

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**Chapter Four**

Hinata was not feeling great. Lunch had been good, and she was thankful for the shower and coffee that Sasuke had provided. However, she had never actually gotten drunk before and her body was not used to handling hangovers. So, not only was her hangover still pretty rough, but she was starting to regret that she had agreed to wear Sasuke's clothes.

At first it had seemed the lesser of two evils - that dress being the worst - and she didn't even want to think what everyone would start saying if she was seen walking home this late in the day wearing clothes that were obviously from the night before. She had heard about some kind of "walk of shame" before and had no interest in participating.

Unfortunately, she was starting to think that wearing Sasuke's clothes was going to do the same thing. And it didn't help that she hadn't been able to wear a bra with that dress her sister had blackmailed her into wearing the night before. So now, she was attempting to make her way home in the middle of the day, hungover, while wearing men's clothes without a bra.

The heiress hugged herself. She felt positively indecent. And to make matters worse, it was taking her longer to get home because she had gone the less populated route in order to try to avoid as many people as possible. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but the longer she was out looking so indecent, the more worried she became that she would run into someone.

She was starting to wonder why she had even gone to Sasuke's last night in the first place. Scratch that. She knew why. All of their friends were aware of her feelings for Naruto and everyone always tiptoed around her because of them. They treated her like she was fragile, like she would break should they say the wrong thing, but perhaps her actions the night before had proven them right.

_Flashback_

_Hinata was out with their friends, enjoying spending some time with the girls whom she hadn't seen much the past couple of weeks. Sakura had been on a medical mission to the daimyo, TenTen had been out on a mission with Lee, and Ino had been preoccupied with her new boyfriend, Sai._

_The heiress had been talking to them and trying to ignore the fact that there were girls hanging all over Naruto. It had been hard to find him alone ever since the war ended. _

_He was still rather clueless in the love department and didn't seem to realize that his fangirls were constantly flirting with him. And, being the nice guy he was, he had a hard time rebuffing them because he didn't want to hurt their feelings. Unfortunately for her, this meant there were usually some hanging around him whenever she ran across him. _

_It made it hard to be around him. It's not that she wasn't happy for him, because she was glad he was finally getting the recognition she'd always thought he deserved, but it started to solidify her belief that he'd never been interested in her and now he would never be. After all, with so many girls to choose from, why would he pick the one he thought was plain, dark, and weird?_

"_Hey Sakura!" Naruto called to get his teammate's attention from where she sat at the bar with Ino, Hinata, and TenTen._

_Sakura turned around and waved._

"_Do you want to come dance with me?"_

_Sakura glanced at the girls for a split second before looking back at him and saying, "No thanks, Naruto, I was on my feet all day at the hospital and I'd rather not. Why don't you ask Hinata? She'd be a great dance partner."_

_The Hyuga blushed and her friend snuck her a wink._

_He shook his head. "No, it has to be you."_

_Sakura's eyes narrowed, "And why does it have to be me?"_

_Naruto stopped and thought for a minute, looking like he was trying to figure out how to say something. Finally, he said, "Hinata won't work, it has to be you."_

_Hinata felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. She tried to put up a brave face for the girls who were looking at her with concern, but she knew she wasn't convincing._

_The pinkette grew angry and started scolding Naruto for saying something so rude, which he didn't seem to understand. Meanwhile, Ino and TenTen shared worried looks and tried to distract the bluenette with a change of subject._

_When that didn't seem to work, they offered to buy Hinata a couple of drinks. They were surprised, and even more concerned, when Hinata actually took them up on their offer._

_An hour later, a tipsy Hinata was on her way to the bathroom when she saw Kiba taking Naruto aside._

_She was concerned. She knew that Kiba had heard what happened and she wanted to make sure he didn't do anything bad to her crush. It wasn't his fault he didn't have those feelings for her and she didn't want her teammate to beat him up for it._

_So, she followed them. When she heard Kiba's ask how Naruto felt about her, however, she stopped in her tracks. The heiress knew she shouldn't eavesdrop, but the alcohol was dulling her reasoning and her curiosity won out._

_When Kiba asked how he felt about her compared to how he felt about Sakura, Hinata held her breath. This was it._

_His response made her wish she hadn't listened in. Sure, she finally had her answer, but this wasn't exactly how she wanted to find out. She went back to the bar and ordered another few of those fruity drinks that Ino always had before making an excuse that she was going to the bathroom again and sneaking out. She didn't want anyone following her._

_Flashback End_

After what happened, she had wanted to talk to someone. Sasuke wasn't out with them - he wasn't exactly a social butterfly - so she knew he would be home and sober. She also knew he wouldn't sugarcoat anything. He was blunt, not really caring how his words would affect others. The truth of his life had been harsh so he figured everyone else could handle their own.

If she had told any of her other friends what she had overheard, they would probably try to convince her that she may have misheard or misunderstood. Sasuke wouldn't mince words to spare her feelings.

Apparently though, instead of the hard heart to heart she had intended to have, she had shown up drunk and blabbering incoherent nonsense. At least Sasuke had been nice enough to let her sleep on his couch instead of dumping her on his doorstep. He had even let her use his shower and borrow some clothes. He was such a nice guy.

… Okay, so maybe not a nice guy, but he could be friendly. Well, not friendly, but he could be decent when he felt like it and that was what counted.

Hinata continued along, keeping inside the tree line so that she had a quick place to hide should she see anyone.

The closer she got to the Hyuga compound, the more paranoid she became. It would be just her luck that someone would recognize her as soon as she was almost home free.

"Hinata!" she heard suddenly and froze. It sounded like Naruto.

But she shook her head. He was never on this side of town. Apparently her paranoia was now making her hear things.

"Hinata!" she heard, louder this time, and dread coursed through her body as she realized it had not been her imagination.

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**Sorry for the cliff hanger. I already have part of the next chapter written so it shouldn't be a super long wait. I'm not evil. Probably.**

**Anyway, let me know what you thought! I enjoyed writing what she saw as a comparison to Naruto's side of things.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry this took longer than I had intended. I actually got sick the day I posted that last chapter and spent the next week sleeping during my free time instead of writing.**

**To make up for it, this chapter is almost twice as long as the other chapters so far. **

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**Chapter Five**

Oh no. Why did she have the worst luck? She didn't feel like she'd done anything awful in her life to deserve this. She tried to be nice to everyone, assume the best intentions from people who were mean, protect her teammates and precious people, do her best in serving her village.

Though, there was that time when a bird had pooped in her father's medicinal tea while they were in the garden and she had been too afraid to tell him before he drank it. Was that it? She had been eight at the time! How long would that continue to haunt her?

Out of everyone who could have seen her in this state of mess, it had to be him? Then again, he already thought she was plain, dark, and weird. What more could seeing her hungover in giant clothes and an emotional wreck do to that opinion?

It didn't stop her from feeling embarrassed and panicked, though. She was _not_ ready to see Naruto yet.

She had thought that she was prepared to know that he didn't reciprocate her feelings. Ever since they had returned from the war, Hinata had figured that his lack of response meant that he didn't love her and just didn't want to hurt her feelings. She thought she had made peace with that.

However, hearing it outright had been like accidentally ripping a scab off and finding the wound had gotten worse.

And now, she couldn't even be presentable when seeing him for the first time since then? Of course not. I mean, why would the world allow her to feel comfortable or, dare she say, a little pretty when seeing the guy she's been in love with her whole life after finding out he didn't feel the same way?

She needed to find some way to make up that bird poo incident to her father so that the world would give her a break. This was just not okay.

She stood there, not willing to leave the shelter of the trees for this confrontation. At least this way they wouldn't be too conspicuous talking in the middle of the road. Kami knows the last thing she needed was for some of his fangirls to find them and barge their way into whatever conversation she had to have.

Naruto jogged over, unsure why he got the feeling Hinata didn't want to see him. Usually, she would blush and smile shyly at him, but now she just looked like someone being cornered by a dangerous missing nin. Her eyes kept darting to the side like the was trying to find a way to escape.

That couldn't be the case, right? Hinata was always nice to him. Even though Kiba yelled at him sometimes for making her faint - and now he finally knew why - Hinata never seemed to hold it against him. Then again, she hadn't even looked at him that morning in Sasuke's apartment. Was she mad at him?

He walked quicker at that thought, his jaw set firmly. He was more determined than ever to find out what was going on.

"Hey, Hinata!" he said, as he stopped in front of her.

She was half hidden behind a tree and looked a bit uncomfortable. He frowned. Was she uncomfortable because of him?

"Hello Naruto-kun," she said and patted herself on the back for not stuttering, even if she had said it quietly. She had been working on her stutter and was over it for the most part, but it always came back around her blond crush.

Now that she had greeted him back, he realized it was his turn to talk, but couldn't come up with anything. He had wanted to talk to her, but hadn't actually thought through what he was going to say when he approached her. He chuckled nervously and blurted out, "So, uh, how was lunch?"

He winced. That sounded so lame! Kurama chimed in his agreement and he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

It didn't help that Hinata was looking at him, confused. He had flagged her down to ask about lunch? That seemed odd. Why did he care about her lunch?

She wasn't responding, so he amended his question, "You know, the pasta you were making Tem - er - Sasuke. Was it good?"

Now she looked surprised and was wracking her brain trying to figure out how he knew about her lunch with Sasuke. It hadn't exactly been top secret, but she couldn't remember anyone being there when they'd talked about it...

Her further silence made Naruto think that he might have offended her with that last question.

"Um, not that I didn't think it would be good! If you made it I'm sure it was delicious! You're an awesome cook!"

And now she was blushing profusely. Kami, why couldn't she just be normal around him?

"Th-thank you, Naruto-kun. It, um, it was good."

Way to be a great conversation partner, Hinata. She had to say something else.

"Is, um, do you mind if I ask how you knew I had pasta with Sasuke?"

Great, now it sounded like she was accusing him of stalking her. Not like that would ever happen.

"N-not that it's bad or anything, I was just surprised," she quickly amended.

Naruto frowned.

"I was there when you told him that's what you were making."

Now it was her turn to frown. Surely she would have noticed Naruto in the room with them. When she tried to think back, however, her memory felt fuzzy. Thinking harder, she did recall Sasuke had been speaking to someone at some point, but she couldn't seem to remember who it was or what they were talking about. Strange.

The blond noticed the look on her face as she tried to process what he was saying. Her brows were furrowed slightly in thought and she was biting her lip, drawing his attention to how full her lips really were. She looked adorable.

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of such thoughts and decided to take this opportunity to further inquire about Hinata's relationship with Sasuke.

"So, uh, I noticed Sasuke let you use his shower."

Hinata looked up at him, startled out of her thoughts, and he could practically hear Kurama facepalming in his mindscape.

Smooth.

"Um, yes. After I woke up this morning Sasuke was nice enough to let me use his shower."

What the hell. No one _ever_ called Sasuke nice.

Hinata saw the incredulous look on Naruto's face and thought that maybe he was dissatisfied with her response. She wasn't sure what exactly he had been looking for when he mentioned it so she began to ramble.

"I-it was really very generous of him. I wonder if perhaps he'll let me use it again after our next session. They've been getting a lot rougher lately and a warm shower right after would really help me feel less sore the next day."

This was not happening. This had to be some kind of genjutsu.

Then, it suddenly clicked that she was saying he had gotten rough with her and Naruto started to get angry. That was _not _okay. He was going to kick Sasuke's ass.

Hinata noticed the dangerous aura that started to surround Naruto and recognized the protective look in his eyes, not realizing it wasn't for quite the same reason Kiba and Shino sometimes got like that. She actually felt a little annoyed that these people thought she needed to be protected and wanted to set the record straight.

"It's not that I'm complaining! I don't mind that he gets rough. I actually appreciate that he doesn't go easy on me. I've really learned a lot since we started."

Well that stopped his anger in its tracks and he went back to thinking this _could not _be happening.

"So," he started, unsure if he really wanted to ask what he was about to, "you and Sasuke are having se-"

It was like the word got caught in his throat and he coughed. He was having a hard time imagining sweet, shy Hinata doing something like that and an even harder time trying to say it out loud.

"Sessions?" she supplied helpfully.

He nodded.

"Well, yes. We've been meeting once or twice a week for a couple of months now."

It felt like his heart dropped into his stomach and he was starting to feel ill. He hadn't realized until now how much something like this would affect him.

Hinata was confused as to why he seemed so surprised.

"I thought you knew? I-it's just that Sasuke doesn't really spend time with many people and your team seems like you are always keeping tabs on him. That, and things can get pretty crazy. I was pretty sure there were a couple of times when somebody walked by and saw us."

She had no idea that she was practically giving Naruto an aneurism.

He could hardly form a coherent thought and Jiraiya's pervy advice of "It's always the quiet ones" was ringing through his head.

Naruto wasn't really speaking anymore and Hinata figured that meant he was probably bored with the conversation and just didn't know how to excuse himself without hurting her feelings. She figured she could give an excuse and then he wouldn't have to feel bad.

"Um, I should probably be going. My sister's probably wondering where I am, so…"

This snapped the Uzumaki out of it. "No!" he said, "I - "

"It's okay," Hinata interrupted with a sweet smile that somehow made him feel guilty. It was nice of him to pretend that he didn't want her to go, but he didn't need to do that for her sake.

She started to leave, but stopped suddenly, realizing this was probably her only chance to get Naruto alone. He may not have any romantic feelings for her, but she wanted to make sure he knew that he was still meant a lot to her. She was feeling a bit braver after talking about her training. If nothing else, she was proud of how much stronger she had been getting and it gave her the emotional strength to say what she needed to say.

"B-before I leave I just wanted to say, thank you."

"Huh?" was all Naruto could say.

"It may sound silly, but I think it is because of you that I've grown so much.

"Sometimes, when Sasuke's getting too rough and I'm not sure I can handle it, I think of you and am able to push through. I've really started to improve and it's all thanks to you.

"You've always inspired me, ever since I was a little girl, and I just wanted you to know that you'll always be important to me. No matter what."

With that, she sped off, not wanting the blond to see the tears that were forming in her eyes. It had been hard to face him.

Naruto stood frozen as he watched her leave, her final words ringing in his ears. He couldn't help but think, 'What the fuck just happened?'

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**Hehe awkward conversations are my favorite. And the innuendos were just too fun. **

**And that last part where Hinata says she thinks about Naruto when Sasuke is getting too rough and is able to get through it made me laugh in humor and horror when I thought of it. I was like... I wonder what everyone is going to think about that?**

**Was this what you were expecting? I had a hard time juxtaposing the awkward conversation and misunderstood innuendos with the emotional content of what was happening. I think it turned out like it was supposed to, but I would like to know what you think!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

This was not going how he had planned. Not even a little bit.

Naruto stood there staring at a weeping Inuzuka and an ever stoic Aburame, trying to figure out where things had gone wrong.

When Hinata had told him about what was happening with Sasuke, he had promptly gone to their spar ready to kick ass. He was going to ask the Uchiha what the hell he thought he was doing corrupting someone like her and then knock some sense into him.

Instead, any question he asked about Hinata was blatantly ignored and the fight had gotten incredibly out of hand. He was glad that Kakashi had already given them permission to get crazy because there was certainly enough damage to cost the village a small fortune in repairs.

Still not satisfied, he had stumbled across Hinata's teammates and decided to recruit them to his cause. When he told them he was concerned about Hinata, they immediately gave him their full attention. He then started to relate to them all he had seen that morning as well as the gist of his earlier conversation with the Hyuga.

Much to his surprise and chagrin, neither of her teammates had flown into a murderous rage at the end of his story. There had been no angry yelling from Kiba, no death threats, and not even any ominous buzzing from Shino.

Instead, Naruto had nearly pinched himself when the Inuzuka had started wailing.

"Wha - How - No! She couldn't! Our sweet Hinata wouldn't do something like that!"

He was crying loudly and shaking his head. Apparently the idea of his sweet little teammate getting nasty with the last Uchiha was too much for him to handle.

Unfortunately, one look at Naruto assured him that this wasn't some prank. Instead, Kiba just put his face in his hands and started sobbing.

Bewildered, Naruto looked to Shino for some help. The insect user just stood there calmly, observing his upset teammate.

"It is only natural, Kiba. Why? Because we are at an age where the biological urge to mate becomes stronger."

Naruto and Kiba both looked at Shino in horror, but the man calmly pushed his glasses up further on his nose and recrossed his arms.

"B-but it's our Hinata! She's so innocent!" Kiba managed to get out between hiccups.

Shino merely shook his head.

"She was taught to kill at a young age just as we were. In fact, species with more violent ways of life often mate earlier and more often than others. It is necessary in order to ensure the survival of the species."

"Damnit Shino, Hinata's not one of your insects! She's our friend!" Naruto said, bewildered at the way the Aburame was handling the situation.

The insect user redirected his gaze to the blond and tilted his head slightly, saying, "Yes, she is our friend. Therefore if this is something that will make her happy then I intend to support her."

"Are you saying you don't have a problem with this? I mean look at Kiba, he's practically having a meltdown," Naruto gestured towards the usually wild young man who had his head back in hands. A worried Akamaru had placed his head in his lap and was whimpering in what sounded like commiseration.

"I am saying," the stoic man replied, "that she has my support in her decision, however uncomfortable I am with said decision."

The Uzumaki was about to make a retort, but stopped when he realized what Shino had just said. So he _was_ unhappy with the situation. His response, however, made him reconsider his own reaction.

She hadn't seemed unhappy that morning at Sasuke's apartment. And she'd seemed uncomfortable earlier, but considering her usually shy nature, the topic was surely not something she would be excited to discuss with him.

He looked over to Hinata's teammates to see Shino trying to explain mating rituals and entomology to Kiba who had proceeded to put his hands over his ears and shake his head fervently. He obviously did not want to hear such things. He looked like he was about to lose it even further when the Aburame asked him to consider what was happening with Hinata better than what he knew of the canine mating traditions.

At that point Naruto decided it would be best if he left and backed away slowly until he felt he was at a safe enough distance to find a tree to sit under and think.

Once Kiba had calmed down somewhat, he looked at the young man sitting next to him. Having known him so long, he could tell that Shino was more bothered than he was letting on.

"Hey, thanks for trying to make me feel better." He had heard a lot of things he definitely did not want to know, and now had a lot of mental images he would probably never be able to get out of his head, but he appreciated the effort behind the attempt.

Shino nodded in acknowledgment and Kiba sighed.

"Didn't see that one coming. I honestly thought she was going to be pining after Naruto forever."

His quiet teammate shrugged before saying, "Perhaps she grew tired of waiting. Hinata is patient, but it is possible that Uchiha provided something that we do not yet understand. I just hope she will open up to us about it."

Kiba heard the hurt tone towards the end of his statement and realized Shino was upset that she had not come to them to talk about things. To be honest, hearing the news from Naruto had been almost as shocking as the news itself. However, he didn't feel ready to confront Hinata about it yet. He was still having trouble with the idea that she was doing something like that. She was like his little sister and he wasn't ready for this at all.

"Don't worry, Shino. I'm sure she will come to us about it eventually. Maybe she's just worried about our reaction. You know how she worries about us."

Shino's shoulders seemed to relax a bit as he accepted Kiba's suggestion. The two continued their conjectures about Hinata's feelings and the sudden shift, unaware that their conversation was being picked up by a certain Uzumaki's sharp hearing.

Listening to them talk about Hinata's feelings and how long she had loved him left Naruto reeling. He had only realized what her confession had meant the night before and even then, she had confessed during the Pein invasion. He'd had _no_ idea that her feelings for him had been so strong and that she'd had them so long. Why had she waited so long to tell him? And for that matter, why had she not brought it up afterwards when he hadn't said anything?

Feeling agitated again, he decided to head back to the training ground he and Sasuke had wrecked earlier. If it hadn't been fixed up yet then he was going to blow off some steam.

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**So, there you go! Next chapter will have some more NaruHina interaction so it should be interesting. **

**I based Kiba's reaction a little off of my dad. He's this big guy who loves guns and makes his own bullets and he was always threatening my boyfriends, but when my (now) husband went to him to ask for my hand in marriage he just broke down crying. I felt like Kiba might be similar so I thought I'd throw it in.**

**Let me know what you thought! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Just wanted to thank all of your for your support thus far! I'm glad most of you seem to be enjoying this story :-)**

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**Chapter Seven**

A couple of weeks later, Naruto sat at Ichiraku Ramen, eating his favorite food alongside the members of Team Ten who were taking a break from their usual barbeque. They were all involved in conversation when he suddenly felt two familiar chakra signatures approaching.

Ducking his head out of the curtain to confirm, he quickly polished off his bowl before slamming some money onto the counter and making his way towards the Hyuga and Uchiha.

Shikamaru and Choji didn't seem perturbed by the abrupt departure, but Ino was surprised and leaned out to get a look at where her fellow blonde was heading. When she saw who exactly he was running towards, her eyebrows went up a bit. Since when were Sasuke and Hinata friends? She saw Sasuke say something to his companion and her eyebrows practically disappeared into her hairline when she saw him blush slightly at whatever it was the bluenette said in reply.

What the hell was happening and how was she not aware of it?

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Hinata were making their way down the street, trying to agree on what to eat for lunch after their spar. The Uchiha hated that she always wanted dango or something sweet. When he had gotten fed up with her shooting down sushi (she wasn't a fan of seafood) and pushing her disgustingly sweet agenda on him, he had sarcastically said, "I'd rather eat ramen."

She was quiet for a moment before deciding - much to Sasuke's dismay - that ramen sounded good to her and began heading in the direction of Ichiraku's. The Uchiha sighed in defeat and once again wondered why he had so many stubborn friends. He thought he did a pretty good job at coming off as unapproachable. There were perks to having the reputation of being able to kill with a look, but for some reason he still had a group of people who cared about him and made it a point to spend time with him.

Even if that secretly made him happy, it was a secret he would take to the grave. Otherwise he'd never hear the end of it from his teammates.

Speaking of, he raised an eyebrow when he saw his orange-clad teammate making his way toward them. Naruto had been spending even more time than usual around him, and most of this extra time happened to coincide with time he was spending with Hinata.

"Here comes your boyfriend," he said to Hinata, who frowned at the teasing.

"I told you there is nothing going on between us and I would appreciate it if you stopped calling him that."

It had been a few weeks since that conversation with Naruto when she had promised herself she would get over him. Unfortunately, the world still had it in for her as she had seen Naruto more in the last few weeks than in all the months leading up to that conversation. For some reason, Kiba had been avoiding or cancelling a lot of their team training and Shino had been busy working with his father on establishing a new hive. So, she had been training more often with Sasuke and Naruto had started popping up more and more whenever they were together.

Instead of distancing herself from him, as she knew she should if she ever wanted to get over him, Hinata relished the attention she was getting from the Uzumaki. He had stated during one of their first accidental meetings that he didn't know enough about her and had since been attempting to rectify that by asking her all kinds of questions about her life.

It was just so hard! She knew she needed to get over him, and she knew that spending even more time with the guy who could make her whole day brighter just by smiling at her was not the best way to go about it. She may be a fool, but she was a fool in love and there was no stopping it.

Sasuke had taken notice and apparently found it amusing enough to comment on, but his teasing was unappreciated as her unrequited feelings were still a sore spot.

He shrugged off her displeasure and said, "I'll stop calling him that when you finally admit you still have feelings for him."

Annoyed that he was still pushing she shot back, "Only when you do the same for Sakura."

Her eyes had widened at her own boldness, and she'd sheepishly looked to the side, missing the lightest of blushes that had touched Sasuke's cheeks at her words.

Unfortunately, two sets of blue eyes had _not_ missed said blush and were letting their imaginations run wild at what it could mean.

A bit disturbed, yet undeterred by what he perceived as the flirting between Hinata and Sasuke, Naruto called out their names, flashing a big smile at the young woman he had found himself thinking about more and more as each day passed.

It was wrong to hit on his best friend's girl. It was wrong and against all kinds of bro codes and he knew he should be ashamed, but he just couldn't bring himself to feel bad about it. It wasn't like the Uchiha had laid claim to her or anything. Naruto hadn't outright asked him about their relationship since that day of their destructive spar, but his subtle questioning was met with nothing informative. Naruto felt like if Sasuke was dating Hinata, and whatever else he liked to pretend they weren't doing, then he should say something, let people know she was unavailable.

Because the longer they were unofficial, the longer he could live in denial and hope that she still had some feelings for him. And the longer he lived in denial and spent obscene amounts of time intruding on Hinata and Sasuke's personal time, the more he learned about the beautiful young woman. And the more he learned about her, the more he found himself falling for her.

When he had first figured out that she loved him, he had wanted to ask her on a date to give her a chance. She was always kind to him, always supportive, and he thought that she was just the right kind of person to potentially date. The fact that she knew him and had had feelings for him before he was considered a hero put her way above any of the fangirls who threw themselves at him.

Now that he had actually started spending more time with her, though, he was starting to realize that he wanted to ask her on a date because he now liked her. He wanted to spend time with her, give her presents, make her smile, and bask in her sweet supportive words and her beautiful blushes.

He was in deep.

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**So, that was like 4 different points of view in like 1000 words so I'm sorry if it was confusing. I tried to transition from one to the other as best I could, but if it's too wonky let me know and I'll try to edit some more. And we finally got a little more SasuHina friendship in there as well as some NaruHina feels! Yay! **

**Let me know what you thought, please :-)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: Hello everyone! Long time, no see! Sorry about the wait, but I hope you enjoy what I have for you. The misunderstandings just keep growing and it's going to get interesting before everything gets set right.**

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**Chapter Eight**

"Hey guys," Naruto said enthusiastically with one of his bright smiles that always made Hinata feel weak in the knees.

"Dobe," was Sasuke's acknowledgement. The blond was about to open his mouth and tell Sasuke he ought to be nicer, but Hinata's greeting stopped the words in his throat.

"Hello, Naruto-kun," she said sweetly.

"Hi," Naruto breathed out, while smiling even wider.

Sasuke watched the two stare at each other for a few seconds before rolling his eyes. Honestly, they were ridiculous.

"This conversation is riveting, but I'm ready to eat," he said, causing his two companions to look away from each other, completely missing the other's blush.

Hopeless. Those two were hopeless.

"Where are you going to eat?" Naruto asked, wanting to join.

"Ichiraku's. Do you want to come?" was Hinata's reply.

"Yeah! I'd love to!" the Uzumaki responded, before turning back toward the stand.

Sasuke was positive he'd seen the blond coming from there and thought about commenting, but kept his mouth shut. He actually raised an eyebrow when Naruto grabbed her hand and started to pull her with him. The blond wasn't particularly good at observing personal space, but he didn't usually touch her.

When Hinata 'eeped', Naruto seemed to realize what he had done and dropped her hand like it was on fire, looking at Sasuke nervously for a reason the Uchiha didn't understand and didn't feel like figuring out.

"Sorry about that. Heh. Just got a little excited. Y'know… ramen and all…"

"O-oh, it's okay. I know you didn't mean anything by it," Hinata said, a little sadly.

Sasuke wanted to hit himself in the face, but refused to do so when people might see. Especially with Ino staring intently at them. Seriously, what was her problem?

Hinata stepped closer to Sasuke, hoping she could hide behind him for a second to collect herself. Naruto saw this and a mix of emotions flickered in his eyes before he turned and asked if they were coming or not.

The three walked with an awkward silence between them until they reached the stand.

"When Naruto lifted the curtain and ducked in, he yelled to the chef in the back, "Hey old man, we're here for some ramen!"

Ino was still sitting there, eyeing the trio intently.

"Naruto, you just had like 3 bowls and ran off," she said, unable to shake the suspicion that something was off.

He looked at her in a small panic, as if he had forgotten that she was there and had been there while he ate before.

"Naruto-kun, you've already eaten?"

"Uh, yeah, but it was a bit ago and I'm hungry again," he said nervously.

Ino narrowed her eyes, now even more suspicious. "Naruto, that was like five minutes ago."

The Uzumaki turned to her, giving her a look that said to back off, before turning back to Hinata and saying, "Never can get enough ramen, y'know?" He chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. Hinata just nodded in acceptance - everyone knew of his love for ramen - and sat down between him and Sasuke to order her own food.

Naruto sighed in relief, glad Hinata had accepted his excuse. Then again, she always seemed to accept the things he said. When somebody else might call him a baka or yell at him for saying something, Hinata would never do that. Sometimes she would even help him explain himself. He couldn't help but look at the sweet young woman next to him as he thought about how nice she had always been to him.

He noticed her smooth, milky skin that never seemed to darken or harden, despite how many hours he knew she spent outside training each day. He noticed how her dark hair shone a deep indigo in the light - he'd asked Sai about the color. He noticed how her forehead would crease just slightly when she looked at him, confused - oh shit.

"Is there something on my face?" she was asking. She rubbed her cheek and looked at her hand, thinking she might find some dirt or something. She had come straight from training after all and she couldn't think of any other reason Naruto would be staring like he had just been.

"Uh, yeah, just a small smudge right there," he said, trying to cover for his blatant ogling. He pretended to brush the nonexistent speck of dirt off her cheek, realizing they felt as soft as they looked.

Hinata's eyes widened and her previously pink tinted cheeks flushed a dark red at the contact. She sat back, startled, and he snapped his hand back, putting it on the counter with his other and drumming his fingers to try to distract from what he had just done.

'Holy shit,' thought Ino, watching the whole thing. She was actually speechless for a moment. She really wished Shikamaru and Choji had stuck around so they could be her witnesses that this had actually happened.

No one spoke for another minute until Teuchi set three bowls in front of the corresponding customer, smiling widely and telling them to enjoy.

It knocked Ino back to her senses and made her want to investigate a little more. "So, Hinata, what brings you Ichiraku?"

"Oh, Sasuke-kun and I were just getting a bite to eat after lunch. He suggested ramen."

"No way, Teme, you suggested ramen?!" Naruto was incredulous.

"I didn't mean to. I just didn't want to eat dango again."

Hinata frowned slightly, "But you didn't even have any yesterday. You just sat there while I ate some."

"Yeah, well I had to smell it while you ate it so it counts."

Ino noticed their comfortable conversation, as well as the fact that Hinata and Sasuke had apparently gotten some food together the day before - meaning they had spent time together at least two days in a row. She must have really been missing something while being caught up with Sai! She opened her mouth to ask another question, but Naruto beat her to it.

"Huh? Why did you guys get dango yesterday? Hinata made those awesome lunches!" Naruto had stopped by their training yesterday - entirely by accident, of course - and they had just been sitting down for a break. When he asked about the bento she was handing Sasuke, she had taken another out of her bag and handed it to him. He asked about her and she had just shaken her head saying she would eat in a little bit.

"You ate her lunch, Dobe."

"What? No way! She said she was saving hers!"

"No, she just gave hers to you and said she would eat later. She was so hungry after training I had to take her to get food."

Honestly, Sasuke didn't know why he was so nice.

"Hinata, is that true?" Naruto turned to her with eyes wide. Why would she do that?

"Um, yes, but it's fine. I don't mind."

"That's not fine! I stole your food and you were training hard! Let me make it up to you. I'll take you out for dinner tomorrow."

Even the kitchen seemed to have gone silent after his statement. Ino's mouth had practically hit the floor and Hinata's face was frozen in shock.

"Did you just ask her on a date?"

At first Sasuke hadn't realized that he had been the one to ask that question. After weeks of Naruto barging in on their training sessions and shamelessly flirting with Hinata, while simultaneously seeming so oblivious to his own attentions, he had been shocked.

Naruto, however, took the question as confirmation that he had just royally pissed off Sasuke. What had he been thinking? Had he really just asked Hinata out to dinner in front of the guy she was slee - seeing? His best friend? Fuck.

"Uh, no, nothing like that. I just felt bad for eating her food is all. I wouldn't ask her on a date or anything. You know that! Heh…"

Well that hadn't been smooth, but Sasuke didn't look like he wanted to kill him for hitting on his girlfriend so Naruto guessed it had worked.

He was jerked out of his worry by the sound of a bowl being pushed away on the counter.

Hinata's head was low and her bangs were hanging in front of her eyes. She had pushed her still half full bowl away from her and laid her chopsticks across the rim. She pulled some money from her pocket and laid it on the counter next to the bowl before sliding of the stool.

"You're not going to finish?" Naruto asked, surprised by the suddenness of her departure. He had been hoping to talk to her a bit longer.

Without looking at him, she shook her head and said, "I'm not hungry anymore. I'll see you guys later."

She started to walk off and Naruto couldn't help but feel like something bad had happened.

Although she wasn't sure what exactly was going on between her three friends, Ino knew for a fact that Hinata was feeling hurt. She was about to get up to follow her friend and comfort her, but Sasuke beat her to it.

The Uchiha stood up, placed some money beside his bowl as well, and followed after Hinata. She had promised to help him with one of his recipes and though he knew she might not be in the mood for it at the moment, he wanted to make sure she would do it soon. He would even let her eat some since she was obviously not feeling well.

At that thought, Sasuke growled. He was getting soft.

Naruto stared after the two with a look that Ino thought, but couldn't believe, was jealousy in his eyes. Was he finally starting to reciprocate Hinata's feelings? If so then what was that backtracking about earlier? And what was going on between her and Sasuke? Damn she needed to talk to Sakura. She would have to know what was going on with her team, right?

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I've missed you guys! Please let me know what you think!


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Hello again! I've been giving most of my free time to my Hinata Sweetheart story, but took a break tonight to work on his as the chapters are much shorter and usually a little quicker to push out.**

**Enjoy!**

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**Chapter Nine**

Hinata exhaled slowly as she made her way back to the Hyuga compound. The emotional ups and downs of her afternoon after a full morning of training had really taken a toll on her. She was ready to bathe and relax, maybe drink some tea in the garden when she was finished if the sun was still up. She just wanted to be away from everyone at the moment.

Not long after, she entered the luxurious bathing area used almost exclusively by her and her sister - one of the perks of being a main branch Hyuga. She stripped off her dirty clothes and scrubbed her body hard, as if trying to cleanse her emotions as well as her skin. After rinsing her first round of soap, she reached for it again, only to be startled by the sight of her little sister.

Hanabi was sitting on the stool next to her, eyebrows furrowed in consternation as she blatantly ogled her older sister's curves.

"Onee, what's the point of having such big boobs if you're just going to hide them all the time! It's not fair," she finished with a pout, looking down at herself and willing her pre teen body to develop faster.

Hinata made to cover herself, before realizing it was useless. Her sister always ambushed her like this when they bathed at the same time. She didn't understand Hanabi's jealousy as she herself was uncomfortable with her body. She always had been. Most Hyugas were lean and fit, with long limbs suited to giving them a better reach for their Gentle Fist. She was quite short; her sister who was five years her junior had already begun to catch up to her height.

Instead of the lean, lithe frame most of her clansmen had, she was full bodied, with wide hips and large breasts that she'd had a hard time learning to fight around. Her stances were always different, her katas slightly dissimilar to the other Hyuga as she had to adjust to her body type. She had purposefully trained for extra flexibility in order to account for what she saw as a handicap.

It wasn't enough that she couldn't be as talented in the Hyuga fighting style or as prideful and stoic as they preferred. She had to have a different body as well, one that had started to develop early on, hindering her even as she finally made some progress as a genin in her confidence and training regimen.

"Imouto, you know I don't like it when you stare like that," she said quietly, rinsing herself for the second time. She made her way quickly over to the bath, sinking down into the water to feel less exposed.

Hanabi pouted further. Her sister didn't see it, but she was beautiful. Hinata had inherited her looks from her mother, someone who was only three quarters Hyuga. Everyone had always commented on how beautiful their mother was, and here Hinata was covering herself up in those ridiculously loose clothes when she could be showing everyone just how beautiful she was inside and out.

It saddened her that her sister still didn't see herself as she saw her, but it didn't feel like today was the day for another one of those conversations. Instead, she followed her sister into the water after a few minutes and leaned her head back, letting the warm water relax her strained muscles as she knew her sister was doing.

"So, I hear you've been training with the Uchiha."

Hinata looked up, startled. "How did you hear that?"

Hanabi narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Why, is it supposed to be a secret or something?"

"No, I was just curious." She and Sasuke were both pretty private people. They weren't together often for things besides training and although their training wasn't hidden, it also wasn't exactly on the most beaten path. Hinata just wondered where Hanabi of all people would have picked up the information since she hadn't bothered to mention it.

"People talk. I hear things around town."

"I see," Hinata said, her eyes closing as she leaned back again in the water.

"I heard some other things. Interesting things," Hanabi continued.

"Hmm?" Hinata hummed, entertaining her sister's conversation though she wasn't particularly interested in gossip.

"Apparently you're spending quite a bit of time with the Uchiha. His fangirls are pretty vicious. They're telling people you seduced him with your Hyuga standing and have promised him doujutsu children."

Hinata opened one eye, unsure if her sister was telling her the truth or if she was just trying to get a rise out of her.

"That seems pretty absurd, imouto."

"So you say. Everyone else is pretty excited about the combination of Hyuga and Uchiha genes. And others are upset that you snagged one of the strongest, hottest guys in the village. They don't seem to care that he was once set on destroying it."

Hinata hummed again, sure that Hanabi had just been hanging around some strange stores. Of the two of them, she was the one who liked to shop. However, she didn't approve of the tone with which she spoke about Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun has changed. He cares about Konoha now."

"It's pretty convenient that after years of training with a traitor and wanting to destroy us, he suddenly changes his mind and comes to live here. Don't get me wrong, I respect his abilities, but it does seem a little suspicious."

Hinata smiled to herself. Her little sister was very shrewd. She'd make a great leader in the future.

"I understand your thoughts, but it seems to me his change is genuine. Besides, Naruto-kun has a knack for doing the impossible."

Hanabi smirked. "Speaking of _Naruto-kun_," she said in a sing-song voice, "how are things going with him? Made any progress?"

The stiffening of her sister's body was so sudden it caused ripples in the water. Hanabi regretted her question immediately.

"There is nothing to progress, imouto. He and I are friends and that is all we ever will be. I am thankful to have that opportunity."

The younger Hyuga scowled. Whether he meant to or not, Naruto had hurt her sister. Hinata was kind, always caring for others more than herself. Savior of the world or not, Hanabi didn't tolerate anyone hurting her sister.

She switched the conversation back to training, telling Hinata some funny stories of her team to try to make her laugh and forget that they had ever mentioned the blond.

After a while, they both dried off and wrapped themselves in robes, walking together down the hall and bidding one another a good night before entering their separate rooms. Hanabi had wondered if there had been some truth in those rumors that she'd heard about her sister and the Uchiha, but her reaction to them and to Naruto just confirmed they were the baseless ramblings of his stupid fangirls. She'd honestly kind of hoped her sister had moved on, but supposed she didn't really want an Uchiha in the family.

She might let some of the rumors leak to the elders, however. One of the old farts would probably have a heart attack from the idea of their Hyuga princess sleeping out of wedlock with the last of their rival clan. And since it wasn't true, it wasn't like her sister would get in trouble for it.

Hanabi smiled evilly, thinking of the best way for them to hear about it. It couldn't come straight from her, but she sure as hell wanted to be there to see their faces. This plotting would be fun.

* * *

**There you have it! I've actually got the next chapter almost entirely written and think I'll probably have it out sometime this week. Again, I'm trying to focus more on my other story since it's a little more intensive, but I figured you guys who are reading both have been waiting long enough for something.**

**I do intend to have an update for that up by the end of the year. And maybe some solid editing of the first couple of chapters. We shall see.**

**Let me know what you think! Your reviews are definitely my motivation. And next chapter has a bunch of NaruHina so the more motivated I'm feeling, the faster it'll be out! (Was that considered extortion? Hehehehe)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: I'm sick and this is from my iPad so editing wasn't exactly a priority. But, you guys are awesome and since it's finished I wanted to get it out to you. Hope you like!**

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**Chapter Ten**

Meanwhile, Naruto had been waiting outside Hinata's bedroom window. He'd walked around for a while after his late second lunch, still uncomfortable with the way Hinata had left. She had not seemed okay and he couldn't shake the feeling that it was because of something he said.

After a lot of thinking, he figured she had misunderstood him and thought he didn't want to spend time with her. When Sasuke had asked him if he had asked Hinata on a date, he had panicked. He probably made it sound like he was just taking her out as a favor, to make up for stealing her lunch. He needed to make sure she knew that he liked spending time with her.

So, he'd used his sensing abilities to locate her at the Hyuga residence. He'd snuck past the guards, not wanting to alert the entire clan to his presence as this was a private matter. When he pinpointed her location, he found that wherever she was didn't have any windows. So, he'd located her room by noting the most concentrated traces of her chakra and decided to wait outside the window.

When she'd returned with damp hair and rosy cheeks, his face flushed as he realized where she'd been. He couldn't decide whether it was a good or bad thing that there had been no windows, but then pinched himself for thinking like Ero-sennin.

He raised his hand to knock on the window, but froze as he watched her sit down in front of her vanity and begin brushing her hair. It was a simple motion, but for some reason he found it mesmerizing. He continued to watch her as she finished and set her brush down.

She then stood and walked over to her dresser, pulling something out of a drawer that he couldn't see. Her hands went towards her waist and his eyes widened as he realized she was about to undo the robe. She was going to take off her robe! A terrible, terrible part of him wanted to let it happen, let her disrobe as he watched. However, his desire to talk to her won out and he realized he had to make his presence known before it got any further.

As Hinata began to undo the knot of her belt, she heard a rapid knocking. She slid her door open just enough to peer into the hallway, confused when she didn't see anyone. She thought about activating her Byakugan to see if someone was playing a joke on her, but decided against it as there were pretty strict rules in place to give their clan some semblance of privacy. Instead she closed the door and went back to untying her robe.

Before she could loosen the knot, she heard the rapping sound again. This time, however, she was more prepared for it and noticed it was coming from her window. She walked over, and nearly screamed and fell back as she found bright blue eyes looking back at her.

She slid the window open, and in a hushed voice said, "Naruto-kun? What are you doing here? Why are you outside my window?"

Shit. He probably should have prepared an answer for that. It's not like he could say he had been waiting outside her bedroom window for her to finish her bath. That would definitely creep her out. He settled for a less detailed version of the truth.

"I, uh, just wanted to talk to you. You seemed like you weren't feeling great earlier so I came to check up on you."

Hinata sighed. Why did he have to make it so hard for her to forget him? Unfortunately, telling him to leave would be rude and he didn't deserve that. She'd just have to grin and bear it.

"That was very thoughtful of you, Naruto-kun," she said, mustering up a small smile for him. As she looked at him, however, she noticed what looked like a small amount of blood just beneath his nose.

"Oh, no! Are you okay?!" she asked worriedly, completely forgetting about her own problems.

Naruto just looked at her, unsure what had made her react that way.

"You're bleeding!" she said as she took a handkerchief from one of her drawers and ran back to the window, pressing it into his hands.

He just continued to look at her, confused.

"Your nose," she said as she pointed to it, "It's bleeding."

"Fuck!" Naruto said out loud, as he looked at the red spot on the previously white material. His stupid perverted thoughts had given him a nosebleed and now she was going to know he was a pervert and he was definitely going to get his ass kicked and all he'd wanted to do was apologize!

However, Hinata took his exclamation to mean that he was in pain. "Are you okay? Do you want me to get you some ice? What happened?"

"I, uh, I must have hit my nose when I fell sneaking over the compound wall. Didn't realize I was bleeding…"

He could hear Kurama chuckle in his mindscape. Today was just not his day for being smooth.

"You snuck over the wall? Why didn't you just come in the front door?"

Great. In an effort to disguise the fact he had been thinking about an undressed Hinata he'd let slip that he'd snuck into the compound. Next she was sure to ask how he found her room and it could only go downhill from there.

"I was just worried about you and didn't want anyone to stop me from coming to see you."

Hinata's cheeks flared bright pink and Naruto remembered how soft they had felt earlier when he had touched them. He quickly shook himself out of those thoughts, however, knowing he was already in dangerous territory and did not need to think about her soft skin while she stood there in a robe.

"Oh," she said softly.

They were quiet for a minute, neither knowing what to say. Finally Naruto decided he should probably tell her what he had actually come here for. Unfortunately, he was nervous about it and he kind of blurted it out suddenly.

"I think I might have accidentally hurt your feelings earlier when I said that stuff about dinner with you and I didn't want you to think that I didn't want to spend time with you because I really like it - spending time with you, that is - and I'd love to spend more time with you like at dinner or whatever and I just didn't want Sasuke to think anything weird about it but then I realized what I said might have sounded bad and I don't want to hurt your feelings because you're nice and I think you're really great and I didn't want you to be sad…"

Hinata looked at him, her mouth open slightly in shock, and Naruto worried he had said the wrong thing again.

"Sorry, that was weird. I just wanted you to know that I do want to spend time with you. And I'd really like to take you to dinner. Not just to make up for eating your lunch - which you shouldn't have given me by the way - but also because I think it'd be fun."

Her heart was beating a mile a minute and she could practically hear the blood rushing to her head as she willed herself to stay conscious. Unable to form any words at the moment, she managed a nod. Apparently that was the right response because Naruto's face split into one of his wide grins.

"Great! How about tomorrow evening? I can pick you up here at 6?"

Hinata just nodded again.

"Awesome, I'm going to make it the best dinner you've ever had -dattebayo!" he said with a flourish before realizing he'd said that rather loudly and probably attracted some attention.

"Shit, I gotta go, but I'll see you tomorrow?" he said, afraid she would have changed her mind in the last few seconds. Her small smile confirmed what he'd wanted and filled his chest with warmth.

He hurried away, jumping into a few trees and over the wall in record speed. He walked home sporting a big grin on his face, thinking about where he wanted to take her the next day.

_'You seem pretty happy for someone_ _who's_ _got a date with his best_ _friend's_ _girl_,' Kurama's voice cut into his mind, causing him to frown.

'Shut up.'

_'I_ _mean_ I _don't have a problem with it. You're the one with all the weird talk about 'bro_ _codes'. She liked you first. I can tell she's still attracted to you. I say just steal her back.'_

'I can't do that. She seems happy.'

_'She_ _didn't seem happy this afternoon.'_

'That's because what I said upset her and you know it.'

_'That just_ _means you can still affect her emotionally. And it's not like your friend has laid claim to her. If you don't mark what's yours as yours then it's up for the taking I say.'_

'Kurama, it doesn't work like that.'

'_Tch, you're just making excuses. It's annoying.'_

With that Naruto was brought back to the present, just outside his apartment. He sighed and mulled over what Kurama had said. It's true Sasuke hadn't made any public claim on Hinata. And it's not like it would hurt anything to tell Hinata how he felt. He'd accept her choice if she wanted to be with Sasuke instead, but he had to at least get it off his chest. Then again, what if it ruined the friendship they had? What if she became uncomfortable around him and avoided him? Wouldn't that be even worse?

His mind wandered back and forth between telling her and not telling her, nearly driving him insane. He recalled her confession, her brave interference in his fight with Pein and the confident way she had poured her heart out to him. Was this why she hadn't brought it up since then? Did she have the same thoughts he did? Why did the war have to start before he'd even had a chance to think about her words? Why hadn't he addressed them even after the war had ended? If he had, maybe whatever had started between her and Sasuke wouldn't have happened in the first place.

"Damnit," he said out loud, as he threw himself face first onto the pillow on his bed. He could tell this would not be a restful night.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: **An update! Sorry it's taken me a while (though not nearly as long as my Sweetheart story, thank goodness). I didn't do much editing so if you see anything crazy let me know!

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**Chapter Eleven**

Sakura trudged through the front gate, waving tiredly to the two guards on duty. It was way after midnight and she was glad reporting in could wait til the morning. All she wanted at the moment was a long hot shower and her soft sheets.

Her latest mission had been pretty rough. There was a sickness targeting some children in a small village. The Konoha hospital had been able to diagnose it based on the reports so she left with an already prepared medicine, but it still took a bit to nurse the kids back to health and her only help was an old woman who knew some of the basics, but was hardly mobile anymore, and her granddaughter, who had no apparent interest in anything medical.

Luckily, everyone had made a full recovery, but the journey was long and she was ready to be home.

Once Sakura had made it up the two flights of stairs to her apartment door, and had done a thorough re-examination of the importance to her of a decent view of the city, she unlocked her door and entered her apartment. The familiar smell that greeted her began to soothe her at once, and she eagerly kicked off her sandals with little regard to where they fell. She would worry about that in the morning.

She walked straight past everything, not even bothering to turn on any lights past the entryway. Her mind was set on that shower. She closed the door of the bathroom behind her and turned on the water. As she waited for it to heat up, she peeled off her mission clothes and piled them in the corner as something else to worry about for the morning.

Finally, she stepped into the shower and nearly fell to her knees in relief at the warm water rinsing away the grime and soothing her tired muscles. After a few minutes of basking in the warmth, she reached for her shampoo and heard a click.

"Sakura? That you in here?"

Still mid reach, Sakura slipped and screamed, before scrambling back up and readying some chakra in her fists to attack.

"Sorry! Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" the voice said again, and Sakura released the gathered chakra back into her system, now recognizing the intruder.

"What the hell, Ino?! Of course it's me! Who else would it be? More importantly, what are you doing?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, well I actually had something I was wanting to ask you about and I knew you were supposed to get home tonight, but wasn't sure when. I used my key and must have fallen asleep on the couch. The sound of the shower woke me up."

Sakura shook her head, regretting for a moment giving Ino a spare key to her apartment. She was always nice enough to keep her plants watered and things dusted while she was gone on long missions, but occasionally overstepped some boundaries.

"So, uh, you have a second?" she heard Ino ask a moment later.

"Can't it wait a few minutes?! I'm kind of naked here."

"Eh, nothing I haven't seen before!"

"That's at the public baths, Ino! When you go there, you kind of expect that someone might see you. If I was expecting that at home then I'd have a freaking window instead of a door on my bathroom!"

"I can't see anything anyway. Your shower curtain is pretty thick."

"That's not the point! I just got back from a long mission and I just wanted to shower and go to bed. Can't this wait until morning?"

"I guess…" Ino said hesitantly. She really didn't want to wait.

"It's about your teammates. I saw something bizarre earlier today so I went snooping around town and I've heard some crazy stuff. Some stuff about Sasuke in particular."

Ino heard something clatter onto the floor of the tub along with a quiet curse and took it as a sign to continue.

"I know for a fact that Hinata and Sasuke had lunch together after training two days in a row. And, I found out they've been spending a lot of time together. One person even said her friend overheard some fangirl saying they saw Hinata knocking on Sasuke's door late one night all dressed up and that she didn't leave until the next day."

Sakura stuck her head out from behind the curtain and Ino felt a little bad for being so insistent when she saw the bags under her friend's eyes.

"Give me a second to get finished in here. Go make some tea and I'll be out shortly."

"Kay!" the blonde exclaimed excitedly, before scampering out of the room. She'd make sure to make Sakura's favorite tea and do it exactly like her friend liked. It was the least she could do. She could put out those cookies she brought, as well. Maybe that would help.

In just a few minutes, Sakura was sitting at the table in her pajamas, hair wrapped in a towel, and Ino was pouring tea into the two cups sitting in front of them.

"So, what is this about Hinata and Sasuke?" Sakura asked, getting straight to the point. Ino slid the plate of cookies over to her friend, who rolled her eyes, but grabbed one and stuffed it in her mouth. Ration bars weren't very tasty, but when travelling in a hurry it was better than having to stop to cook. Ino's cookies were heaven in comparison. Then again, they were already delicious to begin with. She wondered if her blonde friend had learned the recipe just to use them to bribe people for gossip.

Ino launched into the story of everything she'd witnessed earlier that afternoon, as well as everything she'd heard in town afterward. Sakura continued to eat the cookies, washing them down with tea that Ino continued to refill until the kettle was empty.

By that time, Ino was finished with her story. "So, what do you know? I figured if anyone knew what was actually going on it'd be you."

"Honestly, I have no idea," she said, shaking her head. "I've been gone for a month on that mission and the last thing I remember was the night at the dance club and Sasuke wasn't even there. At the time it seemed pretty obvious Hinata still had strong feelings for Naruto."

"True," Ino said, sitting back. She was slightly disappointed, but shouldn't have expected a wealth of information. She'd kind of forgotten just how long Sakura had been gone.

"As far as I could see today, it still looked as though Hinata had feelings for Naruto. She was definitely upset after he said he'd never ask her on a date. But she and Sasuke also seemed pretty comfortable together. And I mean that. _Comfortable_. I'd never describe Sasuke as comfortable around almost anybody. He even went after her when she left. I have no idea what they talked about, but Naruto definitely looked jealous at the two of them."

"So you think Naruto has an idea of what's going on?" Sakura asked. She and Sasuke had been dancing around whatever they were for months now, and he was still not very forthcoming with information. She knew he talked to her and Naruto more than most people, but that wasn't really saying all that much. She had no idea he and Hinata even spoke regularly. She'd only ever seen them nod at each other or share a polite greeting whenever they'd passed one another on the street. But if Naruto knew anything, she was sure she'd be able to squeeze it out of him.

"Maybe? I'm not sure. It seemed like he at least suspected something, but I couldn't say for sure because even if he did think there was something going on between Sasuke and Hinata, it's pretty obvious she still has strong feelings for Naruto. I have a hard time believing she would date Sasuke while feeling that way about Naruto - especially given her knowledge of your feelings for Sasuke. But I just can't figure this out. There's way too much talk for _nothing_ to be happening."

Sakura sat back and rubbed her temples. This was not what she needed right now. She just wanted to sleep, report in, then sleep some more before starting her hospital shifts up again the day after. But this was also not exactly something she could ignore. It really seemed like she and Sasuke were making some progress! Even if there wasn't something romantic going on between him and Hinata, you'd think he'd have mentioned their friendship at least in passing.

"I think we should spy," Ino piped up, eyes gleaming with mischief and excitement.

"Ino, we're not children."

"I know! We're shinobi! It's like our job to spy!"

"Not for gossip! We get paid to spy on dangerous criminals, not our friends!"

"Just think of it as training. Sasuke and Hinata are probably some of the hardest people to sneak up on, right?"

"You can't spin this to make it seem like anything other than being nosy, Ino."

The blonde crossed her arm and humphed.

"But fine. We'll see what we can find out ourselves and maybe try to figure out what Naruto knows."

Ino perked up again, fisting her hand in the air in triumph. She started to jump up to hug her best friend, but now that everything was out of her system she could see just how exhausted Sakura was. Instead, she helped her up, and led her to the bedroom where she helped her into bed. Ino rinsed the dishes in the sink, not wanting to leave them for Sakura to do when she got up, and reminded herself to bring some breakfast in the morning for the both of them. She was sure it was going to be a crazy day.

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There you go! More craziness added to the mix :-) This story is pretty fun to write so I hope y'all are continuing to enjoy reading. Let me know what you think!


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: Hello everyone! I know I've been absent for a while. My life has done just about everything it could to keep me from writing. But even if I'm only writing a sentence at a time (seriously, this chapter and the next chapter of my Sweetheart story that I'm still working on have partially been written even partial sentences at a time) I'm still working. I don't want to leave any of this undone. And I have everything planned out to the end, plus some of the next couple chapters written already.**

**For those of you still reading and interested, here you go!**

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**Chapter Twelve**

Ino was at Sakura's door much earlier than the pinkette would prefer, but she'd brought her two cups of her favorite coffee and some delicious pastries so she cut her some slack. That, and she knew waiting until mid morning must have been a difficult task considering how worked up Ino was about the whole situation. The blonde was a natural early riser so the fact she'd kept herself away until after ten was a miracle only explained by their close friendship.

Still not quite awake enough to talk - the medic was the opposite of a morning person - Sakura went to her room to change out of her pajamas while Ino took charge of the kitchen. Unsure what exactly she should wear to complete their objectives for the day, she put on a muted pink top and khaki capris. She ran a brush through her short pink locks and trudged back to the kitchen where she sat down at the table with a yawn.

Taking the first cup of coffee in her hand, she sipped at it, savoring the feel of the liquid as it slid down her throat and warmed her stomach. After a few more sips she looked up at Ino who was bringing over some fruit she'd just finished slicing. Noting her revealing purple clothing, Sakra cocked her head in question.

"Ino, weren't we supposed to be spying today? Don't you think that's a little conspicuous?"

Ino flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder with a flair and shrugged.

"I figured if I was anything less than my usual fabulous self it would look suspicious, right? Besides, I'm a long range information gathering specialist in the field. We'll be fine."

Sakura's lips quirked up at her best friend's lively attitude. It was Ino's confidence and caring that had endeared her when they were children and although she'd matured, she was still that same person she cared for.

"Alright then, since you've given this so much thought, why don't you tell me what you have planned so far?"

Blue eyes gleamed and Sakura took another large drink, preparing herself for what was to come. As the caffeine began to take effect, she sat back to listen, munching on a pastry in the meantime.

"Well, based on what I heard yesterday, it sounded as though Hinata and Sasuke had been training just before or around lunch time for the last couple of days. So, first things first I think we should observe what we can of their training and see if we can tell anything from there. After that, I figure we can either 'accidentally' run into them or maybe find Naruto depending on how it goes. What do you think?"

Sakura nodded carefully. The plan was simple, but it wasn't like they were in a life or death situation. It was adaptable and should work fine. She only saw one major flaw.

"That works for me, but how do you propose we observe them without their noticing? If they're training Hinata will likely be using her Byakugan and her range is pretty crazy now. How are we supposed to be close enough to hear or see anything without her seeing us? It's not like we can waltz up and tell them we wanted to watch because obviously if this thing is a secret they won't give anything away if they know we're there."

"Good point! I, uh, actually had an idea for that. It's a little something I've been working on."

Green eyes narrowed, instantly suspicious at Ino's nervous tone.

"Ino, what are you planning?"

"Oh, it's nothing crazy! I just thought this would be a good test run for a jutsu I've been developing. Figure I can kill two birds with one stone and all that," she laughed and darted her eyes to the side as she popped a piece of fruit in her mouth.

"Ino, you have to tell me what it is. I'm not agreeing to anything until you do. I used to let you experiment on me when we were kids and I just wanted to make you happy, but not after that last time! I was randomly blacking out for a week after that! I fell into that cart full of berries and had to pay for the damages and then I blacked out after my mother asked me to clean the kitchen and she thought I was just being lazy and napping and she grounded me for a month! Tell me or it's not happening."

The blonde pursed her lips, realizing she'd been caught. She could be sneaky around almost anyone, but she could never lie to Sakura. Though she supposed that was a good thing. Lying to your precious people was not a great habit to be in, even as a shinobi.

"Well I've been working on projecting my mind along with someone else. I do a lot of intelligence gathering and always have to relay what I see to Shikamaru. But he's always asking me questions about things I don't usually notice so I thought it would be

"Isn't that dangerous? Hasn't your clan tried something like that before? Wasn't there a big scandal because a Yamanaka tried that on his teammate and then they couldn't quite disconnect and they got into a huge fight after one of them found out through the connection his wife had been cheating on him with that teammate? And another time they tried it they randomly switched bodies for the next two months before your grandfather was able to set them straight. I've read all the medical reports."

"Yeah," Ino nodded eagerly, sitting forward a bit in excitement, "but I think I'm actually on to something. I studied the notes on those cases and I think I figured out what they were doing wrong."

"Yeah, but have you actually tried it out?"

"Um, not exactly, but you're totally the best person to try it on! What's the worst that could happen?"

"Ino, I just told you two possibly bad outcomes. You do realize if we stay connected you can't do anything gross with Sai? I refuse to be there for that. It's bad enough listening to you talk about him like that."

Sakura shuddered at the thought. She loved her teammate and she was glad that Ino was so happy, but she would never quite get over their initial meeting and mission together. And he still said the creepiest things.

Ino pouted for a moment, before saying, "Fine. I understand. If I'm willing to risk being affectionate with my sweetie then you know I'm confident about it, right?

"And, if I start randomly blacking out again _you_ are going to be the one to explain to Tsunade that you experimented on me and that's why her head medic is basically incapable of working emergency and trauma until you get me back to normal?"

The blonde started to sweat at that thought and Sakura finally felt like she understood the stakes.

"Okay then," the pinkette said as she downed the last of her coffee, "Let's get this show on the road!"

* * *

Almost a half an hour later, Ino and Sakura had decided on the most likely training ground based on the direction Ino had seen Sasuke and Hinata walking from the day before and places Sakura knew Sasuke preferred to train. The man was a creature of habit so narrowing things down hadn't been particularly difficult assuming he wasn't going out of his way to hide his time spent outside with the Hyuga.

This was a big assumption, but considering Sasuke had stopped eating at a particular restaurant just because they had changed the garnish on his preferred dish, she was pretty confident that he would frequent one of his usual spots. If not, then that in itself was pretty telling and would be the point in which they would corner Naruto and grill him for all he knew.

"I think we should stop here," Ino said as they came to a particularly dense wooded area. "This is enough outside of Hinata's usual training range that she shouldn't see us even if she decides to go a little extra and our bodies should be covered. I'm not worried about anyone asking what we are up to because we can always tell them we're trying out a new jutsu, but we don't have anyone to watch our bodies to make sure no one does anything creepy. What do you think?"

"Are you sure we're far enough away? Hinata's range can definitely reach further than this."

"Yeah, but she doesn't do that unless she's specifically focusing on training her distance. And when she does that she goes outside the village so she doesn't invade anyone's privacy. I got her training range from Kiba and I trust him on it."

Sakura looked at her friend suspiciously.

"You didn't mindwalk him for that, did you?"

Ino looked offended. "Of course not! I can't believe you would accuse me of such a thing! What have I ever done to make you think I would do something like that?"

Sakura opened her mouth and held up her hand to start counting off all the times Ino had used her mind walking jutsu for gossip, but Ino stopped her.

"Fine, fine. Well I haven't done that in at least a few weeks so calm down. Besides, Kiba's a solid guy, but he's kind of a horndog so getting information out of him isn't too hard if it's nothing classified. I just flashed a little cleavage and snuck it into a conversation."

"What would Sai say if he knew?"

"What do you mean? It's a perfectly legitimate shinobi tactic. And besides, if he gets jealous then he gets a little possessive. And a possessive Sai is a passiona - "

"You know what? I'm sorry I asked," Sakura said, holding up her hand to stop her friend. Gross, gross, gross.

"Psh, you need to start getting some so you can appreciate my stories more."

The pinkette let out a sigh. "Isn't this partially about my stagnant love life? You know, to find out if the guy I've been in love with for years is actually seeing someone?"

Blue eyes widened and then softened. Ino was so excited about her new jutsu she hadn't recognized Sakura's brave front about what they might find. She placed her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Yes, absolutely yes. And whatever we find out today, I'll be there with you for it. If we need to have a spa day and a drunken movie night in we can do that. Or I can get you all dolled up so you can go seduce him. Whatever, really, you know I've got your back!"

Sakura smiled at her best friend.

"Okay, then you should probably do your thing before I realize what a terrible idea it is and change my mind."

"Yosh!" Ino shouted, fisting her hand into the air. "All you need to do is let me touch your forehead. Shouldn't be hard since it's so giant." The blonde stuck her tongue out and Sakura pouted.

"That's not how you get someone to let you experiment on them, Pig."

Ino shrugged and then her face turned serious. She took a deep breath and made a few slow, careful hand signs before touching Sakura's forehead.

Then, everything went black.

* * *

**We get back to Naruto next chapter. And things start going pretty quickly after that. I'm going to try to update this and my Revenge story (for those multi shippers out there) once a month from here on out. If I can get things out quicker, I will, but based on what my life looks like right now I wanted to give myself a realistic deadline. So even if it takes a little time, I'm going to try to be consistent with this story and the Revenge story until they are complete. I'm still working at Sweetheart, but everything about it is more intensive (longer chapters, more complicated plot, more emotional and character development, etc) so it takes a lot more concentration which is hard to get with two little ones and a demanding job. But you guys have been amazing and I want to get this out to you. Even (as I mentioned in my other story) if only one person is still reading.**

**I'm also going to try to update my Author's profile sometime this week and keep it updated if anything is going on keeping me from writing so you guys know. Sweetheart isn't on hold per se, but it's definitely the one I have the least opportunity to get to. That's why I want to be consistent with these so I can get them finished and focus as much as possible on that one.**

**Anyway, let me know what you thought and thank you for sticking it out. I hope to hear from you!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: So far so good with the whole once a month thing! I'm trying to be more consistent with my writing time. I really want to get this stuff out there for y'all and now that things are coming to a head in this story I'm eager to get it all down :-)**

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen**

Naruto strolled the streets of Konoha with a particular destination in mind and some new clothes in tow.

Until looking through his closet that morning, Naruto hadn't realized that his clothing mostly consisted of either shinobi or athletic wear. He had exactly one pair of jeans and he'd bought them so long ago he was honestly not even sure if they still fit. In Konoha, ninja wore their shinobi clothing most of the time. You could be called to action at a moment's notice and even the more casual shinobi usually had a kunai or two hidden on them at all times.

If not in his usual track suit, he generally wore some kind of athletic pant and either a t-shirt or sweatshirt depending on the weather. He often trained on a whim whenever he was feeling particularly bored or full of energy and he dressed accordingly. Besides, he and his friends never really did anything fancy so it hadn't been an issue before this.

It was only when Kurama started giving him a hard time about wooing Hinata by embarrassing her with sweatpants in a nice restaurant that Naruto had the realization that he didn't actually have anything nice to wear. Nor did he know what to get. Luckily he remembered the store where he'd bought his jeans and went there, remembering how helpful they'd been even before he was the village hero.

Naruto was thankful the place was still in business (many businesses hadn't bothered opening back up - or hadn't been able to - after Pein and the war). The older woman who ran the place had been more than helpful in guiding him through the process. She noted his overwhelmed expression when he'd been faced with all the options and told him black pants and a button down were a combination you couldn't go wrong in. Smiling in relief, he let her take his measurements and as she found some black pants that would fit, the blonde had picked an orange shirt (his lucky color) to go with them.

With what he hoped was the most painful part of the day out of the way, the young hero decided his next stop should be the Yamanaka flower shop. He was pretty sure he should bring Hinata a bouquet of flowers. He knew for a fact she liked them since she'd mentioned pressing flowers during one of their recent training sessions and flowers were a thing guys got girls they were interested in, right?

He was pretty sure he'd heard Sai talking about seeing a lot of men coming to buy flowers for their significant others whenever he spent Ino's shifts with her in her family's store. Granted, Sai usually said they were making up for something, but he was sure she wouldn't assume he'd done something wrong. Probably. Unless going on a date and planning to confess to your best friend's lover was wrong. Shit. Maybe he should get Sasuke some flowers while he was at it.

No. That would probably just piss him off more.

Naruto hoped that he had earned enough good vibes in life to cancel out what he was planning and that the world would arrange for Ino to be elsewhere this morning. He would not be able to survive her questioning and he didn't want anything to ruin his evening, especially something like word getting out to a dangerous individual that he was taking out his girl.

The Uzumaki breathed a sigh of relief when he entered the store and saw Ino's mother occupying the space behind the counter. He searched a few displays, trying to decide what would be best.

Roses were too cliche. Carnations seemed too cheap. The lilies were too flashy…

He wandered past various flowers, unable to name the majority, but nothing seemed quite right. And then he found the irises. Their color was vibrant and they were beautiful while still seeming pretty natural. And if he remembered correctly, Ino had told him once they were a symbol of royalty. Hinata _was_ basically the closest thing to a princess in Konoha.

Unfortunately that last thought made him sweat. He was planning to steal the heart of a princess. Or steal it back, really, but still. He certainly liked to make things hard for himself. Go from the village pariah to Hokage. Go from never having a date to wooing a princess.

Go big or go home - that was Uzumaki Naruto. And he never backed down, so he picked some lilies up and took them to the counter to pay and have them wrapped. He didn't want them wilting in the hours he had before his date.

"Ah, Naruto, how are you dear? I haven't seen you in a while."

"I'm alright Mrs. Yamanaka. How about you?" Naruto replied, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Ino's mom was nice, but he knew Ino had to get her gossiping from someone, though the way her dad used to carry on with Shikamaru and Choji's dads it could have been him. Either way, he couldn't be too careful.

"Oh I'm getting along alright, you know how it is. You're looking so grown up! It seems like just yesterday you guys were taking the chunin exams fresh out of the academy and now you're off saving the world. Makes a mother start to feel old."

"Heh, it's no big deal, really…" Naruto said awkwardly. He never knew how to talk in situations like this.

"Oh you don't have to be modest. You've done very well. And I see you've picked some lovely flowers! May I ask who they're for?"

An uncharacteristic blush started to creep into the blond's cheeks and his eyes widened in panic. He couldn't tell Ino's mom they were for Hinata!

"Oh! Um, heh, no one really. I just thought I'd brighten up my dusty old apartment, you know?"

She gave him a look letting him know she didn't believe his lie for even a second and he began to sweat.

"I see. Well I hope you don't keep them all to yourself. Maybe you can invite someone over to see them. We sell a lot of these particular flowers to Hyugas."

"Er, yeah, I might have to do that." What the hell? Did she know? Or was it actually true that Hyugas liked this kind of flower? If so that was good because it meant Hinata probably would, but he wasn't sure if she was telling him the truth or messing with him.

Luckily, she'd finished wrapping them and handed them over while telling him his total. Naruto set his clothing bag down on the counter to pull some money out of his frog wallet, but quickly moved it to the floor when he saw Ino's mom eying it. He fished out the money and counted it, handing over the correct amount and picking up his things to leave hastily. He waved with the arm holding the flowers and made his way to the door, yelling his thanks across the room.

"Anytime!" Mrs. Yamanaka replied cheerily. "Enjoy your date!"

Naruto nearly tripped and fell at that last part, but knew better than to look back and give Ino's mom any more information than she'd already guessed. He hurried out the door and down the street, ready to be home before anyone else could figure out what he was up to.

* * *

**There you have it! I wanted to break from the spying for a chapter because it seems like y'all aren't quite as interested in Sakura and Ino (I'm the same way so this break back to Naruto was for me, too). So next time will be what they see. Let's see how much further I can take these misunderstandings before we clear it all up ;-)**

**Please review and let me know what you thought. Your criticisms and encouragements keep me going!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! I'm sorry for those of you hoping for longer chapters. This story is actually an exercise for me to be more succinct in my writing so I'm trying to keep them between 1000 and 1500 words. I haven't always succeeded, but I'm trying. We're getting to the point where we're winding down so if I get a chance to write a bit ahead I'll try to post an extra time in the next couple months.**

**Enough talk, I'm sure you're all eager to read!**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen**

When Sakura's vision came back she was suddenly bounding across the floor of the forest. The scenery rushing by was only a few inches above the ground and everything looked huge. It was an odd sensation and she wasn't sure what her physical body was doing, but she imagined herself feeling a little nauseated.

Luckily it didn't take them long to reach the training ground and climb a tree to get a good view of what was happening below.

Sakura felt a mixture of relief and discomfort when she saw Sasuke and Hinata occupying the training ground. She was glad she hadn't been mistaken in thinking they would be here, but seeing them together was a strange experience. Nothing scandalous was going on, they were sparring, but the realization that they were, in fact, spending time alone together made her feel uneasy.

Maybe it was stupid, but she'd never imagined that the two of them would ever speak much. Sure, they were all in the same academy class, and they'd all gone through the first Chunin exams together, but at most the pinkette figured they'd exchange a couple pleasantries at their larger get togethers.

It's just Sasuke hadn't ever spent much time around any female other than herself and Karin, and that was mostly because they were teammates. When he started occasionally meeting her for meals or walks outside of training, she'd thought it was something special. But maybe that was wishful thinking on her part.

She sat there observing what was happening below with trepidation in her heart and mind.

* * *

Sasuke rushed at Hinata, a kunai in each hand, which she parried with a kunai of her own and her Gentle Fist. She managed to nick one of his chakra points enough to cause him to drop one of the weapons, but not enough to cause the limb to be useless. She cursed as he backed away for a moment, throwing the second kunai at her with pinpoint accuracy and rushing at her with a now drawn sword.

Hinata used Kaiten to push him back, unhappy at having to expend the energy and frustrated his speed left her with so few sword gave him a much longer reach and she had a harder time getting close to him to land some of her Gentle Fist attacks, which was no doubt his aim.

She surprised him with a kick and used the opening to get in close, but he recovered more quickly than anticipated and swung down at her. She spun out of the way, just quick enough to keep from being seriously injured. Hinata threw out a Vacuum Palm to push him back and give her a moment to catch her breath. She took a second to make sure she hadn't sustained any injury and noticed her torso felt a bit lighter. The Hyuga looked down and her eyes widened when she found that her lavender jacket had been cut almost entirely away.

"Sasuke! You did that on purpose!" she complained, obviously a little incensed.

He just smirked back at her and shrugged before charging at her again, this time met with a flurry of angry strikes to his arm and torso.

Sasuke grunted, and he retreated for a moment to reopen some of the more critical chakra pathways. He re-sheathed his sword, deciding that he'd rather block and parry with both hands now that the reach of his weapon was no longer working as efficiently.

They ran at one another and began arguing amongst their flurry of movements.

"You're faster without that thing on."

"We've talked about this!" she replied. "I like my jacket just like it is."

"It's too bulky. It gets in the way."

"It does not!"

"It can catch on fire and endanger you."

"_You're_ the only person who's set one on fire and you just did it on purpose to destroy my last one! Not to mention the one you basically ripped off of me with your bare hands. At this rate I'm not going to have any left!"

"I don't understand why you want to wear those things anyway. You should show off what you have underneath."

"Sasuke!" Hinata exclaimed, her cheeks flaming red. "You know I don't like to wear anything revealing."

The Uchiha noted his comment had had its desired effect and took advantage of her flustered state to bring her to the ground. He pinned her hands above her head, not taking any chances with the deadly digits.

"You should use everything you have in battle. I've met plenty of shinobi who let themselves get distracted by a female figure and regretted it."

"I'd rather fight my battles with my fists than my breasts," Hinata huffed, cheeks still a healthy pink as she struggled to get out from underneath her partner. He was bigger and stronger, but she'd been able to escape before.

Sasuke leaned down and said lowly into her ear, "Have you seen Naruto's sexy jutsu? If that's anything to go by I bet he'd enjoy seeing you without that jacket on sometime."

His comment made Hinata lightheaded and she finally gave up. She could tell he would just keep going until she passed out from embarrassment.

"You're playing d-dirty," she said with a pout.

Sasuke smirked as he got off of her. "Whatever it takes to win."

"From now on comments about Naruto and how he might feel about my f-f-figure are off the table!"

"Nothing's off the table in a battle for your life," he responded, wiping his face with a towel. He knew he had worked up a sweat when his bangs began to stick to the side of his face.

Hinata got up and dusted herself up, shooting Sasuke a dirty look while she took off the remains of her lavender jacket. "We're sparring, not trying to kill each other. That's not the goal, at least."

"I can't make any promises," he said nonchalantly and Hinata pursed her lips.

"Fine, then you're buying my lunch today. And we're going to that new teahouse."

Sasuke still felt as if all was fair in battle, but he could admit to himself that part of the reason he kept destroying her jackets was because he thought it was funny to get her riled up. With that in mind and knowing his friend was particularly stubborn sometimes, he didn't argue. At least she hadn't picked dango.

"And give me your spare shirt. I'm not walking around in my sports bra and mesh."

"Why not? It's perfectly acceptable shinobi attire."

"It's indecent!" Hinata squeaked, her face heating at the reminder and having to say it out loud. Honestly, Sasuke was rather difficult sometimes.

He raised is eyebrow, but tossed the fabric at her. They picked up their discarded weapons and left the training grounds in the direction of lunch, unaware that some of their exchange had been observed by two very shocked individuals.

* * *

**Well, there you have it! I enjoy writing Sasuke and Hinata interacting because I feel like his attitude would bring out a somewhat feisty Hinata. Next time you'll get to see what Ino and Sakura were able to see/hear (obviously they couldn't hear him tease about Naruto because that would make this way too easy) and we'll see their reactions as well as some other stuff. **

**Let me know what you thought and I'll keep on going!**


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